When Vice President Harris was named the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, she put her previous role as a prosecutor at the center of her presentation to voters — and used it as an initial line of attack against her opponent, who faced a litany of of legal problems throughout the year. last year.
“I faced perpetrators of all types: predators who abused women, fraudsters who deceived consumers, cheats who broke the rules for their own gain,” Harris said last month at her first presidential campaign rally. I know Donald Trump’s type.”
This week’s selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be his running mate further solidifies the focus on criminal justice, given that during Walz’s tenure, the state passed sweeping reforms — especially after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. The civil unrest that followed, however, quickly became a line of attack by the Republican Party against Walz and his handling of the protests.
Harris’s record has also come under much scrutiny, with particular focus on her time as California’s attorney general before becoming a senator.
But with Harris’ past as a prosecutor and Walz’s progressive track record, the new ticket is well situated to make criminal justice central to its campaign, particularly in the areas of police and prison reform as well as gun control.
Police reform
The murder of Floyd, whose neck was knelt on by a white police officer in Minnesota for nearly 10 minutes as pleas that he couldn’t breathe were ignored, proved consequential for both Harris and Walz.
The national racial reckoning inspired by Floyd’s murder occurred just as President Biden was narrowing his list of vice presidential candidates during his presidential campaign that year. Harris received approval only after weathering heavy scrutiny over her law enforcement career and calling herself California’s former “top cop.”
Now, with Harris at the top of the ticket four years later, her running mate’s handling of the mass protests sparked by Floyd’s killing could be pivotal as he helps shape the Democratic ticket.
One month after Floyd’s death, Walz signed a bill banning chokeholds, mandating new training and making it the duty of police officers to intervene and report if their colleagues use excessive force. He also created an independent investigative unit into police-involved deaths and sexual misconduct.
Michelle Phelps, author of “The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America,” in an interview described Walz as a centrist Democrat who heeded calls from progressive coalitions to move left.
“What Walz did was that Walz didn’t stop those [reforms]; Walz didn’t block them,” Phelps said. “He really tried to thread the needle of signing bills with very progressive policies but explaining them in a really sensible way.”
It was likely part of his appeal as Harris’ pick for vice president, she added.
However, Walz’s central role in the aftermath of Floyd’s death also opened the door for criticism.
Republicans blame Walz for not acting more quickly when civil unrest erupted in Minneapolis, pointing to days of protests between Floyd’s death and Walz’s activation of the Minnesota National Guard. Meanwhile, progressives it hit activation first.
But Walz defended his decision-making, claiming in one press conference at the time, he was “remaining in control” of the state government, allowing Minneapolis leadership to handle the situation first.
Gun control
While Harris has a long history of supporting strengthening firearms regulations, gun rights groups were once big fans of Walz, who grew up hunting and defended Second Amendment rights.
In Congress, Walz has at times broken with most Democrats to oppose gun control. He has repeatedly earned endorsement from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and boasted an “A” rating, and in 2016, Guns and Ammunition Magazine named Walz one of the top 20 politicians for gun owners.
No more.
“Tim Walz is a political chameleon – changing his positions to advance his own personal agenda,” NRA Political Victory Fund President Randy Kozuch said in a statement after Monday’s selection, suggesting that Walz was “exhausted” by seek Minnesota’s highest office.
But Walz attributes his change to mass shootings, not his run for governor.
After concertgoers in Las Vegas were shot to death in 2017, Walz said he donated all of the $18,000 he received from the NRA. After a mass shooting at a Florida high school the following year, Walz spoke out in favor of banning assault weapons.
“Minnesotans want common-sense solutions to end gun violence, and they want them now. They are fed up, and I am, with years of obstruction and inaction,” Walz wrote in the Star Tribune. op-ed days after the shooting.
When he won the governor’s mansion in 2018, Walz became a trusted ally of gun control advocates. He went on to sign background check requirements and a red flag law, which allows authorities to seize someone’s firearms when they are considered dangerous.
Prison reform
Harris has frequently faced criticism about a record that some say has increased incarceration, especially for minorities. But as she ran for president in 2020, she fell to Biden’s left on prison reform, propose changes such as forming federal clemency and sentence review units that would consider early release for people who have served at least 10 years of a 20-plus year sentence.
However, the Biden administration has not implemented such policies. Walz’s government record shows more significant steps.
Last year, he sanctioned a law review of the state’s criminal justice system aims to reduce parole, reduce recidivism and eliminate obstacles for people after they are released. On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court maintained a law he signed last year restoring voting rights to felons who have served time.
Phelps said effective criminal justice reform aims not just to address one problem, like policing or prisons, but “all other structural sources of racial inequality.”
“He has [Walz] solved the problem? Absolutely not,” she said. “But has he worked to try to implement this kind of ‘how can we move forward’ change in the here and now, with the political coalitions that we have at the moment? I think he is among the Democratic governors who can say they at least made an effort to push these changes.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
